When it comes to console football games, Madden is usually at the forefront of most peoples thoughts, but Electronic Arts is determined to bring NCAA football into the light like we havent yet seen. Tiburon put a lot of work into NCAA 11 and it really paid off. The in-game visuals look great. The lighting, character models, and model interaction all look better than they have in previous years.

The graphics are not the only thing that has improved in this years title. Once you start up the game, you will start to notice that the players actually behave like real players. The A.I. is improved, and it really adds to the experience of the game. After years of getting stuck behind my own teammates as they fail spectacularly to block for me, only to be hit from behind, it felt amazing to blast through the hole created by my blockers for a solid gain.

Later, I threw the ball to my receiver at the edge of the field, and instead of running out of bounds to make the catch, he planted his feet inbounds and reached up for the grab. There were fewer instances of launching a pass to my receiver and having it hit him square in the back because he didnt turn around to catch it and much more of players doing their best to make the grab if the ball comes within reach. This type of awareness makes the gameplay feel smooth and natural. Its small things like this that make NCAA 11 so much fun to play.

As I mentioned earlier, the character models as well as their interactions with each other look good. This is most apparent when you tackle the ball carrier. In older titles, I would chase the ball carrier, dive, and barely catch him, but instead of tripping up his ankles I magically climbed up his legs and wrapped around his waist. It was always funny to see, but far from realistic. Fortunately, these funky, unnatural tackles are no more.

I didnt run into any major bugs while I was playing. The only problem I encountered was a strange camera bug on a PAT, where the camera angle was way off to the side. It was strange, but only happened one time and didnt really make the point difficult to make.

The game the same as previous titles, but in a game like this, the sound isnt a major feature that players are looking for. However, while the general game sound isnt noteworthy, the commentators were weak. They were rarely up to speed on the plays, and even made false statements on occasion. For instance, in one of the games I was playing my receiver made a diving grab, but according to the commentators he made the grab and then was tripped up by defenders.